The Quality of Touching Fascia and the Craniosacral System.

by SharonHartnett | May 26, 2024 | craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, healing, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, upledger institute

Touching the Facia and Craniosacral System from an Artistic Craniosacral Perspective.

I love this floral picture of the various layers in color. It reminds me of how when I am listening to the Craniosacral System inside the human body, that the fascia is so closely related to everything. Visually one can see these bright vibrant colors in this picture individually, but we can also notice the melding and adding into the interconnection of the whole in beauty.

That’s how it feels when a Craniosacral Therapist is listening with our hands. We feel the many layers of conscious cells, tissues, organs and sytems which are alive and communicating. There is a deliciousness to understanding in a deeper context how the body is organized and flowing through our gentle manual touch. Swimmingly, there is so much information moving through the super highways of the fascia. The sensitive in our hands are feeling the fascia acting as the medium of interconnection and dynamic motion. To me, it feels like the Craniosacral System is at the bottom of the well which informs the rest of the body how to move through life. The fascia is the orchestra playing out the song.

As Craniosacral Therapists, we can’t isolate the work we do. We tune in, and listen. Pieces arise and move toward the whole. We meld, and blend, just like this gorgeous artwork. Patterns and Essence Intelligence lead the way to healing and growth. Something profound happens when we connect with the cerebral spinal fluid and its rhythm, so that the nervous system finds peace and it’s own sense of inner agency.

Craniosacral Therapy affects us in a way that awakens the Higher Self and Inner Wisdom. It provides a bridge to sourcing ourselves and finding meaning and understanding in our lives. After years, of receiving and offering this work, I find it to be a road to the “Taste of Bliss”. Yet, we all discover what is meant for us through each interaction we make, when and at the time that it right for us. With enough mindful work, we discover that the wonder of the body is always here. Most often Craniosacral Therapy slows us down, and activates that which moves from dormant to vibrance and resonance. It helps us to be freed to live in the moment.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

6797 N. High St. #333

Worthington, Ohio 43085

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Build a Quality Life Worth Living

by SharonHartnett | May 20, 2024 | Craniosacral Therapy, mind body & spirit, mindfulness, upledger institute

Choosing Quality

Pain usually gets a bad wrap. However, have you ever considered that Pain is the body’s ally when it comes to telling you something needs to change?

As a Craniosacral Therapist, I often touch a person with light or medium pressure, and they’ll surprisingly tell me that they were not aware of a pain in a certain part of their body. When I used to do deeper Structural Integration Work, people would make faces as they realized how much hurt they were living with inside on a daily basis. The body is quite wise and can usually manage simple healing well. However, what I am talking about is the embedded chronic isolated pain some of us experience, and not ever knowing how to move it through its natural cycle of completion.

When we get stuck in pain, the body shouts “pay attention”. Yet we may not know how to heal. Often parents or friends after time will say, “get over it” or they lack sympathy because they don’t understand the suffering that can accompany chronic pain. However, we didn’t necessarily ever learn or know how to deal the pain. Instead-we did our best and eventually learned to ignore these precious signals in our body telling our brain something is missing. But the sensations are still buried there, even when we go numb. The wound festers.

Somatic Emotional Release Work helps us to understand that there are pathways to feeling better. Working with people for close to 30 years, All the time, I see people rising to find their well of deep resources to heal. Their own mindfullnes and body awareness allows them to travel deep within and to gently lean into the soft pain and release it. In very basic terms, changing our mindset to how we approach healing our pain and feeling it can transform it completely.

Being human, we meet pain many times in our lifetimes. But that doesn’t mean that we have to continue to carry it with us forever. Whether it emotional or a physical disturbance, meet your pain and find an easier way to move through life. Many people who look toward body centered work find deep release and feel better in their bodies.

You are Worth Living a Quality Life

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Find The Best Craniosacral Therapist For You.

by SharonHartnett | May 19, 2024 | Craniosacral Therapy, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K

To Perform Craniosacral Therapy (CST) at a High Level, takes many years of training. Personally, I studied at the Upledger Institute. I believe that they teach with skill, and provide a great foundation for Craniosacral Practitioners to help their clients heal and feel better. Developing true skill though takes experience. The more hands on we get with people, the more we learn. Our clients are our best teachers, as we listen and support with our hands and our Presence.

Probably the most well known originator of the Craniosacral work started with Dr. William Sutherland, an Osteopathic Physician who discovered, not only that the power to heal lives within the body, but also many manual approaches that are still practiced today.

Later in the 1970’s and 80’s, Dr. John Upledger took the reins, and further researched and Co-Created the Upledger Institute. Now there are many thousands of students taking classes at the Institute, and learning how to tap into the Power of the Craniosacral System. A once unfamiliar manual approach is now becoming well known through much word of mouth, based on the great success stories, as well as studies done with, for example, brain trauma experienced on the football fields.

In order to practice Craniosacral Therapy professionally, a practitioner needs to have some type of license for manual work in most places. But this does depend on the state or the country. From an Upledger perspective, classes are taught, building one on top of the other to help the practitioners deepen and widen their skill set. We learn about the brain, the cerebral spinal fluid, and quite a bit about the whole Central Nervous System. As a student advances through the curriculum, the work gets more detailed, and when a practitioner is interested, they can begin to dialogue between the body sense and the client mind. It’s genuinely a beautiful experience to be with, and observe the body’s own inner wisdom help a person to re-connect with the body with grounding, integration and embodiment.

There are many people who take one course, and they may add it into massage, physical therapy or in their field of practice. It’s a fine accompaniment to many practices. However, if you truly want to get a real feel for the work, it’s useful to look for a practitioner who is certified. The first level of completion at the Upledger Institute takes a lot of commitment and thorough understanding of the techniques. This is when a practitioner becomes a “therapist”. The highest level is the Diplomate. The work to accomplish this takes dedication and a passion for sure. It’s a lot of work, and it means a lot to get this Certification. Any Therapist who meets this criteria knows the work well and is quite experienced.

If you are looking for the best therapist who is certified in your area, check out reviews, testimonials, and also how many classes they have studied. If you go to www.upledger.com, you’ll get an idea for the area of specialties they offer. Craniosacral Therapy is a gentle, yet powerful manual approach with trust the intelligence of your body. If you want to find out more, contact a therapist in your area with questions. Most of us would be glad to take some time to see if it is a good fit for you!

Sharon Hartnett CST-D

703 509-1792

www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

Embracing Wholeness and Wellness

by SharonHartnett | Apr 21, 2024 | Craniosacral Therapy, healing, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, thought for the day

Knots on the way to Wholeness

This morning, I woke up considering wholeness. Dreaming about my early childhood. I was bathing in that quiet serene place where I felt connected to my father’s side of the family. Memories of cousins, and second cousins. aunts, and uncles. The family coming together. One big family. An extended family. Close. I was a crumb, that made up a cake, and I felt safe in the bosom of my family. I felt happy. I felt even more deeply content at my Grandmother’s house when everyone was there. She came from a large family, and the web was thick.

Next, I dreamt about my mother’s family. Seeing my grandfathers cousins at his funeral, and my Grandmother Mary’s family from Pennsylvania. Back then people easily traveled in for a funeral to pay respects. Soothing to the soul to have a sacredly held transition. Even though my grandfather was adopted, people who knew him from decades past gathered.

I felt farther beyond in the thread where even in absence of knowing, the line continued back generations earlier. My Pa came from somewhere unfamiliar to me, but the person who bore him, and the one before her, they all make up a chain that never can be broken. No matter the circumstances, the love, the hate, the good and bad decisions, the lines are made, and the order never does break. What is born is not unborn.

I was lucky to have been brought up in the refuge of this large family as a very young girl. It is something that gave me a taste of happiness. Even if it was later going to fall apart.

Today, in my 60’s though, I have fine memories that help me remember that I come from two long lines that individualized into very different families, different cultures, and different religions. These ancestors of mine moved across different parts of the earth, each living a life worth living. Because of course, all of life is worth living. They all faced good times and hard times, but somehow made it through and lived enough to continue the line on. They all add up to nourish me through their time and experiences here, and now my children too.

In that state between waking up and getting out of bed, I also felt how if I traveled back even farther, that the two threads would eventually come together as One. Realizing again in my life that although we have different experiences, and different beliefs, that we all come from the same lacework. All of us our interconnected, and the Life Force that blesses us to be human beings is the same. It is powerful, and the more we stand together, we remember this.

Quite often these days, there is an emphasis to live in the NOW, which helps us be in wholeness. Perhaps because scientifically, that’s all there really IS. But as human beings, we do live in space and time. We do have this web, of which we all are a part. We have all struggled and suffered to some degree. If we are fortunate, we have also found miracles and love too. We feel. We sense. We get to experience this beautiful world. These moments are so valuable. It feels to me like it’s important to not rush towards enlightenment or heaven so quickly, but instead to savor what we are and have now. We will meet all the parts, and know ourselves as it all unfolds.

This Sunday morning, I write to remind every soul, that we are a knot of individuality in the web of life that crosses time and space. And we are also born from the One Source. If we want to find peace & joy, and if we are to stop creating violence and hate so strongly, we must remember that we all come from the same place. We are sand on the beach, a pebble in the creek. We are Creations of God, or Source, or the Universe’s Creative ability. Whatever we believe, we are One and the Same.

Maybe it’s important to remember this. Perhaps some might want to find a new quality meaning in life. Maybe this is a good reminder that without each other, we are nothing. Do you feel like you are living a life worth living. Do you do things which uplift others? Especially someone you don’t know or care for? Even the smallest changes count.

What if, when you wake up in the mornings, you connect to your Higher Self, sensing into your wholeness, and set your intention to make a positive change by facing your Lower Self with love? Start within to wake up to what is real. It will change you. And when you treat others well, especially those who seem different than you, when you give them an opportunity, you give this to yourself as well.

We are a tapestry that dances across all the universes. Every act touches the Whole. All the threads, and all the knots, we all have value, just by Being.

Sunday Morning Dreaming
Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

by SharonHartnett | Mar 27, 2024 | concussion, craniosacral, Craniosacral Therapy, healing, Massage License in Ohio: 33.007505-H-K, mind body & spirit, Structural Integration

Young people and older people are getting forward neck posture. All the computers and the cell phones contribute greatly. But also all the sitting Americans do. It’s not good. If I had to do it again, I’d start squatting and learn yoga or pilates early on. I’d make them a life practice. But life being what it is in our culture- our postures are often misaligned as we get older. But there are things we can do to have more freedom of motion.

In my opinion, massage can help. But someone who specializes in fascia is the best bet. The fascia wraps around and through everything in the body superficially to the deep. From macro to micro and reversed. It’s a living tissue that contains and keeps us alive and in motion. When we nourish the fascia and help it remember its ability to be vital, pain can disappear.

I have clients in their 50’s and on up. They can hardly move their necks when they first come in. They are told it is arthritis. Well, they may have arthritis, but it’s the tissues that restrict or allow motion. It’s the fluids dancing with the structure that makes the change. If things can start to soften, spread and move, the bones can be adjusted or perhaps move back on their own. It’s like a wrapping. If it’s tight and stiff- how does life nourish or relinquish what it no longer needs?

Of course there are minerals, vitamins, PT and other things which can help (all part of the HELP team), but the fascia is key. People, whose doctors tell them it’s arthritis often don’t talk about the benefits of fascial work. I think this is a big mistake not including it in health protocols. In addition, learning Feldenkrais, Continuum and other movement exercises that are gentle can be essential and really help too. People don’t have to stay stuck or frozen internally. At any age, we can make choices that will help us. It may not correct the issue 100%, but it can make a huge difference.

Friends, move yourself in different ways. Be proactive with your health. We all have habits that aren’t easy to break, and when this happens- there is always someone out there with skill and experience who is willing to help. It may take time and patience. Take care-no matter which route you take.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
7035091792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com

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How to Find Help forVertigo

by SharonHartnett | Jun 17, 2023 | Craniosacral Therapy

From a manual approach, Vertigo can be helped if it is stemming from a structural issue. I have had clients come in with this issue, and when It began after a physical accident, we have had much success.

Recently, with one client, we figured out that most likely it originated with a childhood accident, and then the heavy lifting consistently at the job also contributed to dizziness. I don’t diagnose, but this is the story the client shared as the pieces came together during our time together.

What I felt during my listening palpation was that there was a lot of motion from side to side, mostly in the neck, but also in the head, and down in the body. One Side of the body was much more muscled than the other. The lateral motion was occurring from the brain all the ways down.

Easy session. All we had to do was find the primary areas to work and to help the body self-correct and self-regulate. The key issue here was in the hyoid bone. Once that released, the whole body began to open up. But its also important that a therapist knows how to work the rest of the anterior neck and the thoracic area as well. I used Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation techniques to help toward resolution.

It’s not always the case that CST will help with Vertigo. But sometimes it is. A good question to always ask, is. “when did the symptoms begin”. If there is a correlation, it may be structural indeed! I also recommend people see a Vestibular Therapist too who has lots of experience, if the challenges come from somewhere else.
Putting a thumbs up for helping people with this uncomfortable condition. Vertigo is not fun.

Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com